Saturday, 6 February 2016

Penguin’s Michael Joseph Crime Party 2016

So as a New Year dawns, book
reviewers and literary commentators are readying themselves for the excitement
of what newly commissioned work publishers have in store for the market. We
have recently enjoyed parties with the Hachette’s Hodder and Stoughton, Headline, Mulholland and Quercus
publishing, as well as the big push
for Hull based journalist, turned best-selling crime writers David Mark
and Peter May;
and upcoming next week - the Orion
Publishing Crime Party, yet another division of Hachette, which also
includes the mighty Little Brown Division.

With reading [as a pastime]
being squeezed due to the time constraints that we all face, coupled to all the
other distractions that compete for our time, and reducing attention spans –
coupled to economic forces putting pressure on the publishing sector, it is
becoming harder to establish new work than ever. One sector which is bucking
the trend [outside of YA and Children’s fiction] is the dark attraction of
Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, as the recent PLR figures from British libraries
indicate – Crime and Thrillers are the most popular sector

So clutching my invite to
the Michael Joseph / Penguin crime fiction party in hand, I pointed my black Audi
toward Soho, London and headed off with the anticipation of what lay in store
for my reading. I was also excited spending an evening with friends and colleagues,
who share my passion for the genre, and to compare notes, who was reading what,
and what were the books that I would mark in my diary to watch out for. Penguin has become part of the Random House Publishing
group, but despite these mergers,
the imprints all retain their own special flavour, and their stable of authors.
In recent years, under the stewardship of Publisher Rowland White,
Michael Joseph / Penguin have unleashed many new names and they get introduced
at this annual event, allowing the slipstream and momentum of their more
established [and best-selling] authors to assist in name recognition, and
therefore onto review pages, with interest piqued with the reading public.

As a key publisher, Rowland
White is a well-known figure in the industry, though a long term senior figure
within the Michael Joseph apparatus, he has spent time at Orion Publishing and
has championed many authors, and gained a reputation for breaking out new blood.
He has a keen eye on the commercial end of the business, and is a renowned and
successful writer himself, best known for the bestselling Vulcan 607

I arrived early, car parked,
and excitement mounting, as I walked to the venue in Soho in the rain, with the
words of Warren Zevon buzzing in my mind….gonna get a big
dish of Beef Chow Mien. Due to the rain, my hair was far from perfect, like
a Werewolf from London.

Inside, the Union Club I was
impressed by the sign on the door “We
apologise to members, Ground Floor closed due to a Private Party”. Penguin
had used this venue for several years, to host their gathering, but previously
they had a small room on the first floor, but in 2016, they had taken over the
entire ground floor, and as I looked at the array of name badges placed in the
reception area, I soon realised the sheer scale of tonight’s party. Not only
had Michael Joseph’s Penguin division managed to get a huge number of the literary press,
reviewers, literary commentators, booksellers, bloggers, editorial staff,
promotional staff and their large stable of authors to attend the party, they actually
took over Soho’s Union Club.

As I was early, I quickly
grabbed a Penguin Catalogue 2016, and chatted to my three colleagues from their
Promotional Team, firstly Gaby Young, a professional who had previously held a
senior role at Orion Publishing for many, many years. We chatted about Michael Connelly,
who was the first author I interviewed for Shots, many years ago, arranged by Mike Stotter and Gaby at
the now long gone Borders Bookstore in Oxford. Gaby had worked with Mike
Connelly for many years, and so our paths had crossed many times, and thanks to
the generosity of the creator of Harry Bosch, we’d both been on the Bosch film set,
and dined with this remarkable author in Los Angeles. Both of us were getting
excited for Season 2 of Bosch,
which was due for streaming at Amazon Prime in March. Gaby had been working
with bestselling Penguin author Tim Weaver,
and I indicated that I had just started working my way through his remarkable David Raker novels,
which had been sitting in my office for some time, anxiously awaiting my time. Last
year Rowland had sent his senior editor Emad Akhtar and Tim Weaver to Bouchercon Raleigh in North Carolina, where I co-Chaired
Programming, and had slotted Tim onto a panel entitled ‘Crime & Mystery meets Horror & The Weird’,
moderated by my very dear friend Nanci Kalanta, the writer, editor who formerly ran Horror World.

Then Tim Weaver arrived
with Emad Akthar, and we had a laugh about Bouchercon Raleigh, as last time we
met was in North Carolina, though they were there all weekend, we only managed
to spend fifteen minutes in a corridor during the entire convention. They both
had a swell time in Raleigh, and were relieved that I had recovered, as when
they saw me at the time [with my programming hat on]; I was somewhat sleep
deprived. Tim was very gracious signing my full-set of his David Raker novels,
and I also indicated how impressed I was over his series of ‘Missing’ podcasts,
in which he, like his protagonist explored the phenomena of why people go
missing. The Missing Podcasts can be downloaded here.

On Penguin’s PR team, Katya
Shipster is an imaginative genius when it comes to making reviewers take note
of upcoming releases, for she sends us amusing asides with the proofs,
including the bottles of Cyanide Mints, that peppered the tables of the Union
Club, to celebrate tonight’s gathering. She also organises many launches with
her colleagues, and I said how disappointed I was that Felix Francis was unable
to attend tonight’s soiree, as I enjoyed the publication launch of the 50th
novel of his [and his legendary late father Dick Francis], as that event was very special. I also noted that it was Katya and her colleagues at
Penguin that championed the Edgar Nominated Chris Mooney who has his sixth Darby McCormick novel ‘Every Three
Hours’ out shortly. I’d known Boston
based Mooney for some time now, and enjoyed seeing Penguin release his back
catalogue, for he is a writer that should be much better known, though his work
is as dark as Obsidian, it is gripping and always one-sitting reads, never
requiring a bookmark.

Then it was time to mingle
as the ground floor of The Union Club started filling up. I thanked Roland and
Emad for their hospitality organising such a well-attended event. The bar was
full, though I kept to Ginger Beer, as I was driving, though the canapes were
excellent, miniature Fish and Chips, Miniature Burgers, and the like, and I managed
one glass of full blooded Red Wine, quaffed slowly.

I also enjoyed the company
of some of Penguin’s newest talents who were establishing themselves in the
market. I applauded Penguin’s bravery a few years ago when they introduced new
writers such as Matthew Frank, James Oswald, M J Arlidge, Howard Linskey, Karen Perry, and Jake Woodhouse to their stable, where they rubbed shoulders with their
long term best-selling novelists such as Gregg Hurwitz, former journalists Nicci
Gerrard and Sean French, better known as Nicci French, Felix Francis, Tim Weaver, P J Tracy, and Georges Simenon. Particular
mention should be made of Penguin’s remarkable re-issues of the
Inspector Maigret novels and stories. I applaud
Rowland and the team at Michael Joseph for their strategy in making their crime
and thriller list merge new talent with their pool of best-selling authors, as
well as seeing an increased presence of espionage writers such as Jason Matthews and a new name to me, Jack Grimwood. I had heard rumours of a new work entitled Moskva, which had the tag
line “Moskvais a brilliantly written, chilling and sophisticated
début serial killer thriller set in Cold War Moscow. MakesKolymsky Heightslook
like a walk inGorky Park”. That short line made me smile, and really provoked my
curiosity.

As a
big reader of espionage fiction, and having loved the resurgence of Lionel Davidson [from Faber and Faber] and who hasn’t been captivated
by Martin Cruz Smith? I was very intrigued, so as Rowland White is a fellow
Espionage enthusiast. I asked him about this work Moskva, and who the bloody
hell was Jack Grimwood? So he smiled, and introduced me, and then the penny
dropped. You are “Jon Courtnay Grimwood!” I laughed shaking Jon’s
hand, as I loved his work, very different, speculative, SF, weird, but many
would know of Jon via his journalism and book reviewing. I hadn’t bumped into
Jon since Crimescene and Dead-on-Deansgate events, a decade or so go, though we
were in touch via that much maligned internet [but ubiquitous] resource,
Facebook. So over chilled ginger beer, I probed Jon or should I say Jack
[Grimwood] about his foray into Crime Fiction Moskva.

Jon or
Jack as he is now referred to, indicated that it was the hand of his Literary
Agent Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown that had come up with the
Jack Grimwood name. I smiled recalling that it was Jonny Geller who was also
involved with fellow writer of The Weird,
Michael Marshall Smith in his alter-ego change to Michael Marshall when he too
entered the crime genre with The Straw Men.

So what
have we instore with Jack Grimwood’s debut crime novel?

Moskva, is
a serial killer thriller set in Cold War Moscow.

Christmas
Eve, 1985. The shaved, exsanguinated body of a young man is found in Red Square,
frozen solid — like marble to the touch — missing the little finger of his
right hand.

A
week later, Alex Masterton, the 15-year-old stepdaughter of the British
ambassador, goes missing. Army Intelligence officer, Tom Fox, posted to Moscow,
is asked to help find her. It’s a shot at redemption.

Fox’s
investigation drags him ever deeper towards the dark heart of a Soviet
establishment determined to protect its own…

Moskvais due to be published
by Michael Joseph/Penguin, on May 6th, 2016.

So I manged to get Jon / Jack Grimwood to
sign my review copy of Moskva from my book bag, and he kindly agreed to an
interview after I read this work. I noted the publication date in my diary
which now resembled a game of snakes and ladders. I grew excited about the
release of Moskva, especially with Anglo-Russian relations being strained due
to the recent Polonium
Investigation due to the strange and curious death of a former FSB operative in
London, which coupled to the growing tensions in
the Middle-East seemed to be ushering a new era of fraught relations between
the West and Russia, reminiscent of those dark days of The Cold War, so the
Jack Grimwood novel was rather timely, and I would suggest you also mark your
diaries accordingly, as a grime novel from Grimwood, in my opinion, is an
event.

By now Soho’s Union Club was heaving, and I
have to admit I was really encouraged at the calibre of guests, and the
attendance of the Penguin authiors. Then Katya Shipster, Gaby Young and
Francesca Russell gently urged us to make our way, for the welcoming speeches
and information about the Michael Joseph / Penguin crime list 2016.

So for Shots Readers, we have recorded [in my
usual ‘gonzo’ style] the amusing speeches from Rowland White and Emad Ahktar
which detail what’s in store for the advocates of the darkest edges of
literature, crime and thriller fiction from the Penguin London team.

Then as Emad instructed it was time to replenish
our drinks, and despite my one glass of red wine, I was back on the Ginger
Beer.

It was difficult to meet everyone as Penguin
had assembled an eclectic and comprehensive cabal of London’s Literary Community,
but I did my best with camera and glass of ginger beer to mingle. I was
delighted to chat to New Zealander [in temporary exile in London], the very
well read Craig Sisterson of Crimewatch and organiser of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.
We had a laugh over last year’s dinner with Michael
Robotham, Mike Stotter and I - that Craig had organised. I
have to say, Craig apart from being a really top bloke, is one of the most
influential figures in the Crime Fiction Community and no one promotes New
Zealand and Australian Crime and Thriller fiction with as much professional
insight and enthusiasm as Craig Sisterson, and if you don’t follow his Kiwi Crimewatch, then I urge you to do so, for it is full of excellent
interviews, reviews and information from the genre ‘down-under’. We’re
privileged to have in London, and hope he stays longer than the ransom demand
we organised…….

Of course the ubiquitous and probably the
most influential figure in the genre, writer, reviewer, film buff, editor of Crimetime and literary commentator Barry
Forshaw was around; and as ever surrounded by
writers, but we did manage to have a brief chat, about Jack Grimwood – as Barry
and I move in similar circles, as our literary and film interests go beyond
crime and thrillers.

From Shots, Michael
Stotter and Ayo Onatade were sampling the Red Wine
and we compared notes on the upcoming schedule at Shots, in terms of features
and reviews. And I was delighted to chat briefly with best dressed man in town,
Chris Simmons of Crimesquad, Jon Coates of The Express, and many others.

So, finally filled with more Ginger Beer,
than I had planned, I said my farewells and thanked Rowland and his team at
Michael Joseph’s Penguin Imprint for their generosity in hosting a remarkable
gathering of bibliophiles, that turned out to be a very interesting evening,
with surprises such as discovering exactly who Jack Grimwood is, and what he has
in store.

Next week, we are with Hachette’s Orion
Publishing Crime Fiction party, so let’s see what else lies in store from
Literature’s darkest streets. I plan to let the train take the strain, as there
is only so much Ginger Beer one can consume while talking crime and thriller
fiction, as my usual tipple is chilled Gin or full blooded Red Wine.